Greenpeace Taiwan yesterday announced the results of tests carried out to assess pesticide residue on vegetables sold at chain supermarket outlets, saying that 69 percent of the samples tested contained pesticide residue and 12 percent exhibited excessive residue levels.
Forty-five of the 65 vegetable and fruit products collected from brick-and-mortar and digital outlets of the nation’s major supermarket chains, including RT-Mart, Pxmart, Carrefour, Matsusei, Wellcome, A. Mart, Costco and FamilyMart, contained pesticide residues.
Among them, pesticides officially designated as highly toxic by the Council of Agriculture were found in 11 products, while excessive residue levels were discovered in eight products, with a prohibited chemical found in one product, Greenpeace Taiwan said.
RT-Mart, Pxmart, Carrefour, Matsusei, Wellcome and A. Mart last year pledged to stop selling products found to contain the officially designated highly toxic chemicals, but some of those chemicals were still found in products at RT-Mart, Matsusei, Wellcome and A. Mart, Greenpeace said.
Grapes sold by A. Mart’s digital outlet were found to contain a mixture of 13 pesticides, which Greenpeace said could expose consumers to a cocktail effect of harmful chemicals.
Five out of the eight products collected from Wellcome outlets, including bok choy, oilseed rape, cucumber and kumquats, contained traces of chemicals the supermarket pledged to ban, while highly toxic chemicals Oxamyl and Cypermethrin — the latter designated a second-degree toxic pesticide by the WHO — were also found.
Sweet potato leaves sold at a Carrefour outlet were found to contain traces of highly toxic pesticide Methomyl, while a green pepper was found to contain levels of Difenoconazole residue that were seven times the council’s permitted levels.
Oxamyl was found in spoon cabbage and bok choy sold at a Costco outlet, while a lettuce marketed by FamilyMart as being pesticide and heavy metal free was found to contain pesticide residue.
Greenpeace project manager Lo Ko-jung (羅可容) said: “Local agriculture is still heavily dependent on pesticide, as 69 percent of the samples tested positive for pesticide residue. Major supermarket outlets have failed in their role as a gatekeeper and continue to sell products containing highly toxic pesticides.”
The tests were conducted last month by a third-party facility, Greenpeace said, calling on supermarket chains to step up food safety control efforts.
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